Elect(55)

Luca’s eyes saddened. He approached Mr. Alfero and put his arm around his shoulder. “For what it is worth, I am sorry.”

“So was she,” Frank mumbled. “So was she.”

“Holy shit!” Tex dropped his gun to the floor with a loud clatter. “Holy shit!”

“What?” I hit him. “What’s wrong with you?”

“You guys are…” He pointed at Mr. Alfero and Luca. “You guys are—”

“Brothers,” Phoenix grumbled. “They’re brothers.”

I looked at the two of them. How had I not seen the resemblance before? It was uncanny. Obviously Frank was older by a good fifteen years, and they both had the dark hair, though Frank’s was sprinkled with gray. They had the same blue eyes, nose, chin. Really, it was strange to see.

“But…” My mind was unable to work that fast. “Phoenix, how did you know that?”

“Phoenix made his money as an excellent spy. Didn’t you, son?” Luca spat. “Going through Trace’s things, reading the personal journals. Then, in an instant of trying to discover everyone’s dirty little secrets, you saw something. Something you were not supposed to see. And that’s the problem with spying. Eventually you will be caught.”

Wordless, Phoenix hung his head.

“And your father paid the price with his very life.”

Phoenix shook his head. “It wasn’t supposed to go that far. I thought I was helping. I thought that if I exposed him, or at least caused unrest with the families that day, it would buy me time, that they would see that there were so many lies and it was never about my family. And… I was scared, all right? We owed money to him, and my father wasn’t doing anything about it and then when I discovered we weren’t to blame I freaked. I wanted him out of the equation. He was ruining everything.”

“What do you mean? This isn’t about your family?” I asked.

“No.” Phoenix looked like he was shaking. “It’s about yours.”

“Well, shit.” Tex rubbed the back of his neck. “So what do we do now?”

“We’ll be in touch,” Frank said.

Phoenix winced as Frank slapped him hard on the back. “The less you know, the better it will be for everyone.”

Mil stood silently in the corner. Nothing was adding up.

“So, what do we do?” I pleaded. “There has to be a way we can help.”

“Kiss your girlfriend.” Luca winked. “Pretend everything is fantastic, because I promise you, in a few days, we’ll be nothing but a horrible dream.”

“People don’t die in dreams.”

Frank hung his head and muttered a prayer. Luca grabbed his gun and held it to Phoenix’s side.

“ ’Til we meet again.” Luca nodded and stood on the other side of Phoenix as he and Frank walked him out of the room.

“Mil?” Tex asked. “Any other fun secrets you aren’t telling us about?”

She shrugged and then shook her head.

I pulled out my gun and pushed her against the cement wall. She winced in pain and closed her eyes as I pushed her hair back with my gun. “Talk.”

“Not much for talking,” she said through clenched teeth.

“Let me refresh your memory,” I seethed. “My best friend dies a day after he meets you and now you’re letting your stepbrother run off with the guy who killed him? Who just so happens to be holding Trace’s grandfather captive like a damn prisoner.”

I pressed the gun further into her neck, causing her throat to convulse against the metal. “Nixon said to protect me at all costs,” she said.

“And that”—I released her with a jerk and tucked my gun in the back of my jeans—“is the only reason you’re still breathing. If I suspect anything, if you sneak out to meet someone, if you suddenly disappear,” I swore, “Mil, I will hunt you down, I will torture you until you beg me to kill you and you know what I’ll say?”

“What?” She rubbed her throat, tears pooled in her eyes.

“No.” I smirked. “I’ll say hell no and I’ll just keep torturing. I’m protecting you as a promise to my very dead best friend—don’t make me regret it.”

“Anything else?” she croaked, a smug smile tugging the corners of her mouth. Damn, I wanted to strangle her.

“No.”

“Then let’s go home.” She pushed past me, shoving my body to the side as if she had enough strength to take me down. I watched her the entire walk to the car, I watched and waited for a misstep. Nothing added up—she had to be the answer.